Life must be filled up

Lord Roworth’s Reward, Carola Dunn
The World of Arthur Ransome , Christina Hardyment
A Room Full of Bones, Elly Griffiths
Dying Fall, Elly Griffiths
The Brother of Daphne, Dornford Yates
The Third Wife , Lisa Jewell
Captain Ingram’s Inheritance, Carola Dunn
Striding Folly, Dorothy L Sayers
The Vet’s Daughter, Barbara Comyns
Blood Count, Robert Goddard
A Place for Us Part 1, Harriet Evans
The Courts of Idleness, Dornford Yates
( a few comments )

I picked this up at a jumble sale, with several other ‘read and then give away’ books. The premise is one common to spy and thriller stories: innocent people get caught up in international intrigue. In this case it’s a young couple, he a don and she a barrister. They’re holidaying on Antigua when a Russian money launderer approaches them to arrange his resettlement in England in return for information. Anyone with any sense would of course run a mile, or at least get the next plane back home, but then there’d be no story. Once they’ve contacted the right people in England, Perry and Gail are in it up to their necks. The willingness of people in the Service to put the lives of others at risk is mind boggling. It reminds me of Peter Cook in the famous sketch from Beyond the Fringe: ‘Goodbye, Perkins. Don’t come back.’

This sorry tale of corrupt Western politicians, bankers, lawyers and EU officials colluding with Russian oligarchs and criminal gangs ought to be shocking, yet somehow isn’t. We know all this stuff, although we pretend we don’t. As long as we own houses, have money in a bank and a pension fund, we’re all complicit and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. I found the book sadly lacking in tension, rather boring in fact, and I think A Most Wanted Man was better.

In contrast, the book by Helen MacInnes which I read most recently, Prelude to Terror (1978) was gripping. It’s a cold war thriller set in Vienna, which also features chases, mountain hideouts and how to throw a pursuer off your trail. Robert Goddard is another author who keeps you turning the pages faster and faster. It seems unfair that these writers, although popular, aren’t taken seriously, whereas le Carré gets proper reviews and each new book is hailed as ‘masterly’.

The Books

Mystery of the Walled House, Frances Cowen
Solitaire Mystery, Jostein Gaarder
Beatniks, Toby Litt
Living Dangerously, Katie Fforde
Coroner’s Pidgin, Margery Allingham
The Case is Closed, Patricia Wentworth
The Morning Gift , Eva Ibbotson
A Song for Summer, Eva Ibbotson
Found Wanting, Robert Goddard
Dying to Tell, Robert Goddard
Uncle Samson, Beverley Nichols
Clothes-Pegs, Susan Scarlett (Noel Streatfeild)
Wedding Season, Katie Fforde
Death in the Andamans, M M Kaye
( thoughts )

I'm late with this but I've written about most of them already.

Sputnik Caledonia, Andrew Crumey
The Provost’s Jewel, Elisabeth Kyle
The Careful Use of Compliments, Alexander McCall Smith
Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer, Jane Brocket
Eating for England, Nigel Slater
When Will There Be Good News? Kate Atkinson
A Company of Swans, Eva Ibbotson
The Secret Countess, Eva Ibbotson
Caught in the Light, Robert Goddard
Another superb thriller with a convoluted plot in which nothing is what it seems. Unusually, a very dark ending.
Caroline at the Film Studios, Barbara Vereker
This is the first of four books about Caroline. I shan't bother seeking out the rest, in spite of the cover.
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, Alexander McCall Smith
I was longing to read this and am désolée to learn that there will not be another instalment next year.
The Star of Kazan, Eva Ibbotson
I started Madam Will You Talk by Mary Stewart but I realised straight away that I knew the story, although I couldn't remember the book. I think it must have been a radio play fairly recently?
Ongoing:
The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley
Why am I reading this? Ghastly old bats.
Coming Up For Air, George Orwell
Re-read of which more later.

I don’t seem to have finished many books this month. Hermione Lee’s Virginia Woolf is an ongoing read and very good it is, too. As part of that read I’ve dipped again into Mrs Dalloway (goodness, those first pages are a wonderful piece of writing) and A Room of One’s Own.
( more books )